Despite a strengthening local currency, Taiwanese exports rose to US$24.19 billion last month, up 8 percent from a month earlier, with shipments of electronics products hitting an all-time high of US$7.25 billion, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
“The foreign exchange rate only fluctuated sharply recently. The New Taiwan dollar averaged between NT$31 and NT$32 against the US dollar over the past few months,” Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞), head of the ministry’s statistics department, told a media briefing.
“It is really hard to tell whether the appreciation of the NT dollar impacted exports. Our trade rivals also saw currency gains. We need to observe it for a longer time,” Lin said.
On a yearly basis, exports posted better-than-expected growth of 21.9 percent, higher than the 17.5 percent gain in September, thanks to a pickup in sales to the US and Europe and a rebound in shipments of electronic products.
“The stronger readings in exports for last month should be taken as a positive sign that local exporters may have started to make delivery of orders ahead of the year-end festive season,” Standard Chartered chief economist Tony Phoo (符銘財) said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.
Exports to Europe were US$2.68 billion last month, posting the highest level since the global financial crisis. That represented an increase of 17.5 percent from a year earlier, the ministry said.
“Overseas buyers may not be as concerned as initially feared in terms of performance of year-end sales,” Phoo said.
In the first 10 months, exports reached a record high of US$226.4 billion, up 38.4 percent from a year earlier, with exports to China (including Hong Kong), six ASEAN nations and Japan all hitting the highest amount in history.
“This indicates that exports for the full year will likely post a record high,” Lin said.
However, she warned that a slower global recovery, combined with European austerity measures and potential foreign exchange rate fluctuations, could result in declines in fourth-quarter data.
Meanwhile, imports last month rose 2.8 percent to US$21.21 billion from US$20.63 billion in September as a result of growing purchases of consumer goods, which rose 16.4 percent sequentially.
On an annual basis, imports increased 27.9 percent, higher than 25 percent growth in September.
From January to last month, imports totaled US$33.5 billion, up 67.6 percent from a year earlier, due chiefly to substantial growth in the import of machinery, which rose US$10.12 billion or 90.2 percent year-on-year, the ministry’s data showed.
“All these figures reflect a rebounding confidence among local producers, firms and businesses, amidst an ongoing revival in domestic spending,” Phoo said.
Phoo said that last month’s data, coupled with the latest reading on inflation, suggested the possibility of another 12.5 basis points hike in interest rates by the central bank at its quarterly meeting next month.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
UNCERTAINTY: Investors remain worried that trade negotiations with Washington could go poorly, given Trump’s inconsistency on tariffs in his second term, experts said The consumer confidence index this month fell for a ninth consecutive month to its lowest level in 13 months, as global trade uncertainties and tariff risks cloud Taiwan’s economic outlook, a survey released yesterday by National Central University found. The biggest decline came from the timing for stock investments, which plunged 11.82 points to 26.82, underscoring bleak investor confidence, it said. “Although the TAIEX reclaimed the 21,000-point mark after the US and China agreed to bury the hatchet for 90 days, investors remain worried that the situation would turn sour later,” said Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of the university’s Research Center for
RSS